BEARS GET LITTLE YIELD INVESTING IN TIGHT ENDS

John Mullin, Tribune Staff WriterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Bill Walsh called it the least understood, yet most important part of his West Coast offense. For the Bears in 1998, it has been one of the least used and certainly least effective areas in their offense, a descendant of Walsh's.

The element is the tight end, the position Mike Ditka revolutionized as a Bears player 35 years ago and Walsh turned into a weapon as part of a fully integrated offense when he coached the San Francisco 49ers. But Bears tight ends have yet to make much of an impact.

Four catches in two games. That's all the Bears have had from tight ends John Allred (0), Alonzo Mayes (2) and Ryan Wetnight (2). Five NFL tight ends have nine or more, and Denver's Sterling Sharpe has nearly as many TD catches (3) as Bears tight ends have catches.

Few teams have invested as much in the tight end position--four draft choices in seven years, plus undrafted free agents--as the Bears, and they're still investing.

Last week, it was rookie Mayes staying late after practice to catch passes from Erik Kramer. This week, all three of the Bears' tight ends are putting in overtime.

"Erik wants to throw to them more," offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh said. "We know that they can be a big part of our package. We've just got to keep throwing to them, working, and hopefully it'll start showing up in the games."

The idea is to find a "naturalness" that is not there right now. "It's kind of hard to explain," Kramer said, "but I think you just have to throw a number of balls to people to get comfortable, get a sense of timing and where they like it."

The value the Dave Wannstedt Bears would place on the tight end was evident very early. The third draft pick of his regime as head coach, after a speed receiver (Curtis Conway) and a defensive lineman (Carl Simpson), was a tight end (Chris Gedney). This was the year after then-personnel boss Bill Tobin used a fifth-round pick in the 1992 draft for tight end Todd Harrison, who didn't make the team.

The Bears' best move involving a tight end in the 1990s was signing Wetnight as an undrafted free agent out of Stanford in 1993. Wetnight has made 91 catches over the last three years, including 46 last season, the most for a tight end since 1964, the Age of Ditka.

Last year, the Bears' highest pick went for a tight end, Allred, in the second round. Mayes was selected in the fourth round this year. Allred was inactive last Sunday in Pittsburgh; Mayes fumbled once and did not get to a fourth-quarter Kramer pass. Mayes concedes he has been pressing at times, typical of rookies at any position.

"The mental part of the game right now is my environment," Mayes said. "Once you get comfortable with your environment, everything else comes naturally. I feel comfortable with the playbook, but that's different from really going out there and making that playbook come alive.

"Hopefully, it won't take longer than the (off) week. After that, hopefully I'll be settled, comfortable and it will be my second `year' to me. My rookie `season' will be over, hopefully, in the first seven weeks."

Timing, speed of passes in certain situations, effects of blitzes--all are part of the adjustment program now under way with Kramer and his tight ends.

"That's just stuff we're going to have to keep working on, and that's to be expected," Kramer said. "Alonzo is going to be an excellent tight end here, and hopefully, we're going to be able to start connecting pretty soon."